Provinces of Prussia

Provinces of Prussia

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Provinces of Prussia

The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in the creation of the German Empire in 1871, produced a country that was constituted of several princely states and dominated by one of them, the Kingdom of Prussia. The Provinces of Prussia covered some 60 percent of the territory that was the German Empire. The appointed head of each province was known as Oberpräsident. Each province also had a provincial diet (Provinziallandtag in German). The provinces of Prussia were further subdivided into Regierungsbezirke.

Prussia in the German Confederation

Provinces of Prussia in the German Confederation 1815-1871

The German Confederation was created at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Kingdom of Prussia was a member until its dissolution in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War.

Brandenburg
Hohenzollern (Created from annexation of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1850)
Pomerania
Posen (Created from the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1848)
Prussia (Created from the provinces East Prussia and West Prussia,1824 - 1878
Rhine Province (Created from the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1822)
Saxony
Silesia
Westphalia
Hannover, since 1866
Hessen-Nassau, since 1866

Prussia in the German Empire

Provinces of Prussia in the German Empire 1871-1918

The outcome of the Austro-Prussian War put an end to the aspirations of a grand unified state consisting of the countries in both Germany and Austria. Instead the North German Confederation was created under Prussian leadership, and following the Franco-Prussian War the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871. The German Empire was dissolved in 1918 following World War I.

Brandenburg
East Prussia (recreated by dividing the Province of Prussia in 1878)
Hanover (Annexed in 1866)
Hesse-Nassau (Annexed in 1866)
Hohenzollern
Pomerania
Posen
Rhine Province
Saxony
Schleswig-Holstein (Annexed in 1866)
Silesia
West Prussia (recreated by dividing the Province of Prussia in 1878)
Westphalia

Prussia in the Weimar Republic

Provinces of Prussia in the Weimar Republic 1919-1933

Map of current states of Germany that are completely or mostly situated inside the old borders of Imperial Germany?s Kingdom of Prussia

After the fall of the German Empire the Kingdom of Prussia was reconstituted with a republican government as the Free State of Prussia. It had to cede virtually all territory belonging to the provinces of Posen and West Prussia to the newly created state of Poland. Prussia and its provinces formally continued to exist even though political control was eventually taken over by the National Socialist German Workers Party following their rise to power in 1933. Both Prussia and Nazi Germany was finally dissolved following the end of World War II in 1945.